Conventional coffee machines utilize a coffee basket to hold coffee grounds as water passes through them during the coffee brewing process. As the water passes through the coffee grounds, it picks up some of the oils, flavors, and solids from the coffee grounds before dripping into a coffee pot or other vessel. However, in conventional coffee machines, coffee grounds typically remain in the same position throughout the brewing process. Some grounds are exposed to more water than others, resulting in reduced brewing efficiency as well as lower overall quality.
Previous efforts to agitate coffee grounds during brewing resulted in large coffee makers specially designed to battle this inefficiency. However, these previous attempts would require the purchase of an entirely different coffee machine, and most coffee drinkers already have a consumer-level coffee maker. The potential increase in efficiency and quality due to stirring the coffee grounds while brewing may not warrant such a replacement, especially at the non-commercial level. Furthermore, coffee makers have a wide array of features available; it is unlikely that one or two coffee machines able to agitate coffee grounds could satisfy the demands of most coffee drinkers, each of whom likely already owns a coffee maker that meets their particular needs.